An XDA forum member has apparently managed to identify a serious security flaw in some Samsung Exynos chips.

The vulnerability is in the kernel and it allows attackers to bypass system permissions and gain access to RAM, or just inject malicious code into the kernel. So it has all the makings of a bad day for affected users.

The flaw affects Exynos 4 chips and the new Exynos 5 does not appear to be affected. The developer who identified the vulnerability says it is easy to obtain root access on affected devices, with no control over it.